Written for and inspired by valuablenicola. Hope you had a very happy birthday!
~xA2Ax~
Saving Martin Summers
An Ashes to Ashes fanfiction
Summary: He was the only one from her world. He was the one who truly understood. Whether bent cop, psychopath or twisted madman, Alex knew she had to save him. Alternate ending to Season 2. Season 3 does not exist. Includes slight GALEX.
Enjoy!
~xA2Ax~
IT began in the courtyard. Alex had been caught. There was a gun, pointing straight towards her chest. And it was held by Martin Summers, alias Boris Johnson, the one which hadn't been thrown into a quarry. On the other side, distantly, too far away to pull her towards safety, stood Gene. Alex noted that the gun in his hand was steady, as per usual and it was aimed unerringly towards Martin.
"Stop!" Gene shouted; life or death situation or not – it felt good to hear Gene's voice again, when he wasn't screaming betrayals at her. "I will shoot!"
Alex saw the muscles on Gene's fingers tighten. However, a movement to the left swung her eyes back in Martin's direction.
Martin smiled. "I know."
Any moment now, Gene was going to reach for the trigger. But suddenly Alex felt herself become slightly faint, as though she had been pulled through a tunnel at breakneck speeds. With a gasp,her eyes closed of their accord. Alex wrenched them back open to be faced with a stark white hospital.
"Mommy!" Molly was pleading. Her daughter! That's right. "Mommy, please, you have to fight off the infection." Alex wanted to cry out and wrap her daughter into her arms. "Mommy, wake up. Mommy, you have to wake up." Her eyes were open were they not! Why wasn't Alex waking up?
"It's alright, Molly. We'll just have to use a higher dose." Who was that? Alex was frantic. Was this her doctor? Didn't he realise that Alex was here – right here! She wanted to scream. She didn't need any more drugs! "Doctor!" A nurse burst into the room. Well, that answered Alex's previous question. "His heart stopped!" The trigger of Gene's gun was being slowly pulled back. "Who?" The doctor leapt to his feet in alarm. "Summers." The nurse rasped as two pairs of feet dashed from the room. "Martin Summers."
Alex was abandoned and even Molly stuck her head outside to see what was going on. Alone, the darkness consumed her and Alex found herself spat back out into a courtyard in 1982. "Clear! Nurse, get over here!" Alex's eyes were glued to Martin who looked so shockingly calm despite being so close to death. "We're losing him!"
He was the only one from her world. He was the one who truly understood. Whether bent cop, psychopath or twisted madman, Alex knew that she had to save him.
"GENE! STOP!" Alex shrieked as the bullet fired.
Distracted, the gun jerked and the bullet flew harmlessly across the courtyard, where it became imbued in the stone walls opposite. Gene snarled, preparing to take another shot. "I'm going to try just one last time!"
With a burst of adrenaline, Alex sprang across the courtyard. Her heels tapped loudly on the paved floor as she flung herself between Martin and Gene. Rasping, Alex stared up at Gene, her guv, whose gun was positioned to blow her to pieces. He looked so angry. Alex was painstakingly reminded of their argument yesterday; Gene had gazed at her with the same hurt and betrayal which pierced her now.
"DI Drake, you had better move your bloody ass before I shoot you myself!" Gene bellowed. A defibrillator slammed down. "Bolly!"
Alex shook her head. "No", she whispered faintly. A woman screamed.
"Who is this man?" Gene demanded. "Tell me the truth. Not some bollocks story about Sam Tyler and the bloody future!"
"He's..." Alex hesitated. Someone was crying. "He's the man whole left me those roses..."
Gene growled and Alex backpedalled rapidly.
"He's..."
Alex turned around, staring at Martin who stared impassively back, not helping her at all. "Please!"
"He's a friend." Alex stated.
Martin gaped at her like a fish starved of water. Alex met his eyes with determination. Somehow, she realised that it was true. That Martin had never truly tried to hurt her – that in his own way he had been testing her, stretching her wit and resolve. Making it possible for Alex to see the connections and solve Operation Rose.
"And if you're going to shoot him." Alex said to Gene levelly. "You're going to have to shoot me first."
There was a silence. Alex didn't dare to face Gene.
Beep. Beep.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Gene's arm lower slightly.
"Doctor, I've got a heartbeat!"
The breath that Alex hadn't realised she was holding escaped. "Thank God!"Alex smiled timidly; had she been in another world, watching a lame 80's sitcom, Alex would have been laughing at Gene and Martin's identical expressions of absolute shock.
And then suddenly there was no time for laughter. A blonde speck barraged into Alex and she felt the cool butt of a gun jar across her neck.
"Where's my money?" Jennette shrieked. "Give me my bleeding money!"
Jennette smirked at Gene who was impossibly even more astounded as Jennette revealed her true colours. Alex jerked instinctively and her fingers clawed in vain at the hand around her throat. She began to panic. She couldn't breathe! Jennette's gleeful giggles only added to Alex's feeling of helplessness. Molly turned back inside. "Mommy, I'm scared." She murmured with wide tear-filled eyes. "Please wake up. I don't what you to die." Alex had to fight. But she couldn't! And Gene may as well have been a stone statue – the way he was just staring at her uncomprehendingly.
When a shot was heard. The gun pressed against her head loosened. Alex staggered and the now dead form of Jennette rolled onto the floor. Alex gasped.
Gene's hand was still pointing limply towards the ground. It wasn't him that fired the shot.
It was Martin.
"What." Martin said; it was Alex's turn to look gobsmacked. "I couldn't just let you die Alex. Where would be the fun in that?"
~xA2Ax~
IT was dark within the CID. Gene was alone, brooding in his office. Ray, Chris and Shaz had long since gone down to Luigi's to have a celebratory drink. Ray seemed to be regretting that decision though. Shaz's wedding plans and raving about her dress was driving him up the wall! On the other hand, Chris was bemused and relieved to be trusted within CID once more.
Meanwhile, two figures stood in the Fenchurch East kitchen. Alex made herself a coffee before passing a mug over to Martin.
"Why did you do it?" He asked her seriously.
Alex paused, sipping her drink. "It was the right thing to do."
"Operation Rose may – probably was your exit route." Martin mused. "It was your chance to go back to your time. Your opportunity to see Molly again."
"I know." Alex was slightly wistful. "But I have to believe that one day we'll be back together. I'll be waiting for that day."
She fought to keep her face composed. It would not do to start crying over Molly all over.
"Alex. Thank you." Martin's sincerity permeated through the small space. "For everything."
Alex smiled.
~xA2Ax~
Molly awoke from where she had dozed off, slumped over the side of the hospital bed. Something was different. Irrational as it may seem, she could feel it. Terrified and not knowing what else could do, Molly grabbed her mother's cold hand and refused to let go.
IT caused a pandemonium when a young blonde girl appeared in the middle of CID. The day had started ordinarily enough. They were investigating an arson. Alex was scribbling all over a whiteboard, muttering to herself while the other inhabitants struggled to stay awake. The only exception was Martin who had yet to be exposed to the fatigue induced by repeated Alex-style lecturing.
The stupor broke when Molly practically flew down from the ceiling, bowling Chris over until she landed by Alex's feet.
"Molly?" The brunette wondered if she was experiencing a hallucination.
"Mom!" If Molly's ear-piercing squeal wasn't enough to tell Alex that this scenario was real, then her tackling Alex into a hug certainly was. Alex grunted as she was pummelled by the force of Molly's enthusiasm.
"Oh Molly!" Alex pulled her daughter into a tight hug.
Molly's response was garbled due to the speed which she was talking at. At some point, Alex burst into tears and embraced Molly closer still.
"You're here. I'm so glad you're here." Alex was overjoyed.
"Bloody women never seem to shut up." Gene muttered loudly.
Alex pulled away for long enough to glare at him.
"Alright, you have a daughter." Gene finally conceded.
Alex waited.
"And I shouldn't have said that you are delusional and a liar."
It was an apology and Alex knew it. Although to most of the team, Gene still looked like their mighty indestructible guv, Alex noticed the way his back was slightly hunched and his lip quivered. He looked vulnerable; it was an odd sight.
"It's okay Gene." Alex began to smile brightly at him. It meant: I forgive you. Alex realised that her story may have sounded extremely fantastical. Even now, with Molly wrapped around her side, Alex didn't know what was going on.
"Well alright then!" Gene called out gruffly, stepping out of the charged tension which had begun to build between them. "Who's for some lunch?"
To many joyous cheers (including Alex's), Gene led the charge down to Luigi's. At the stairs, Alex found herself walking beside Martin. Martin grinned at Molly who was gazing at her surroundings with awe.
"So Alex", he said lightly. "Guess you didn't have to wait too long after all."
Alex laughed as they walked into the bar like old friends.
~xA2Ax~
Molly awoke from where she had dozed off, slumped over the side of the hospital bed. She panted; the echoes of nightmarish machines beeping and flat lining echoed in her mind. She was being paranoid, surely. But something was different. As irrational as it may seem, she could feel it. Reflexively, Molly glanced over at the prone form of her mother.
And immediately realised that something was wrong.
Alex was glowing faintly. Brightly enough that she looked eerily pale in the darkened room but not bright enough that the nurses were noticing anything unusual.
Then, gradually, Alex began to fade. To Molly, it was like she was dissolving into the air, disappearing from her sight. Terrified and not knowing what else to do, Molly latched onto her mother's cold hand and refused to let go. As Alex dissipated into the fabric of time, Molly too was pulled through.
Five minutes later, the bed was empty and the room appeared as though it had been uninhabited for months.
Similarly, down the hall, a man vanished from his bed. Medical records were wiped clean. It was as though Martin Summers, disgraced copper never existed. If anyone had bothered to look, they would have found Martin Summers, distinguished consultant of Fenchurch East CID.
And as for Alex Drake? No one ever found a trace of her.
They would have had more luck searching for Alex Hunt.
~xA2Ax~
Thanks for reading my first Ashes to Ashes fanfiction! Originally, I was going to make Martin become an actual cop at CID but that didn't seem to come together. So, how was it? Good, bad or utterly terrible? Please leave a review :).
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